As we reported last week, meat and dairy products from some of the 30 Mongolian companies participating in Expo 2017 were held by Chinese border inspectors for the duration of the event. According to P.Sergelen, Mongolia's Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industries, the goods have been destroyed in the Chinese border city of Erenhot (Erin); as a result, Mongolian companies have suffered a USD 78 thousand loss.

More than 1600 businessmen and 390 enterprises from Mongolia participated in the Expo 2017. One of the real success stores was the TESO Company, which signed an agreement with China to export sea buckthorn seed-oil worth of MNT 3 billion.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies released a report on Monday highlighting China's oil field development in the region.

The report says satellite images show China has placed 3 new rigs in waters on the Chinese side of a median line between the 2 countries.

It also detected an increase in activity by Chinese vessels in waters near the new rigs between July and September this year.

The latest CSIS discovery brings the total number of Chinese structures in regional waters to 19.

The 2 nations reached an agreement in 2008 to jointly develop oil fields in the region. But Japanese officials say that while negotiations for a treaty have since stalled, China has continued with its maritime developments.

In August, the Japanese government lodged a protest with China after a Chinese drilling ship was engaged in some kind of activity in the area. It demanded China stop its unilateral development.

China's foreign ministry said that the work was being carried out in undisputed waters under Chinese jurisdiction.

The milestone trip, spanning nearly 100 km (60 miles) with trains operated by individuals in an air-conditioned control room hundreds of kilometres away, puts Rio Tinto on track for commissioning the so-called AutoHaul project in late-2018, the miner said.

The company, one of the first to ever embrace driverless mining vehicles, already runs about 200 locomotives on more than 1,700 km of track, hauling ore from 16 mines to four port terminals.

Rio’s trains began running in autonomous mode in the first quarter of this year and about 50% of its pooled fleet rail kilometres are being completed in autonomous mode, but with drivers on-board.

The company said that 90% of its pooled fleet production tonnes are AutoHaul enhanced, which means they are able to operate continuously without shift changes and improved safety, with trains responding automatically to speed limits and alarms.

Rio Tinto said it has already seen the benefits from AutoHaul in increased train speeds and fewer stops that have cut more than an hour from average journey times.

Getting to this point was not easy. The actual commissioning of the autonomous trains project has been put off a few times, partly due to software problems.

Delays with the implementation of autonomous iron ore trains hurt Rio Tinto’s output in 2016. The miner ended up producing 330 million tonnes, down from the original target of 350 million tonnes.

The so-called Autohaul plan is part of the “Mine of the Future” project the company launched in 2008 and which also included the introduction of autonomous haulage trucks, automated drilling and the roll out of an operations centre near Perth airport.

In April, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of MSE met with FTSE Russell officials to discuss the situation that Mongolia may potentially be removed from the FTSE Frontier Markets Watchlist. Following the meeting, MSE made it a priority to implement T+2 settlement system and Delivery-versus-Payment mechanism, as such we formed a working group with the Mongolian Securities Clearing House and other market participants to speed up the implementation of necessary changes in the market infrastructure and worked closely on the drafting of the rules and regulations. We have notified on several occasions to the market participants including the Securities Clearing Corporation that there is a risk of removal from the Watchlist if the shift is not immediate. Unfortunately, FTSE Russell made their decision at their September review to remove Mongolia from the Watchlist due to the delay with compliance with the requirements and upon consideration that the re-implementation of T+2 settlement system is unlikely in the near future. Although it is disappointing, there is a possibility to be re-included on the FTSE Frontier Markets Watchlist if Mongolia adopts necessary changes before their next review in March 2018. MSE encourages all market participants to treat the compliance with FTSE requirements and potential inclusion into the Watchlist as a top priority.

Official signing of the agreement by delegations of the two nations was a sideline of the 14th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) taking place late last week in Siem Reap province of Cambodia.

Cambodian Secretary of State at the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) H.E. Mao Havanal, according to the source, signed the MoU with his Mongolian counterpart.

H.E. Sinn Chanserey Vutha, Spokesperson for the SSCA, was quoted in the same source explaining that the agreement opens direct air route between Cambodia and Mongolia, nevertheless, when to have the direct flight is subject to the market demand.

The report included the shared optimism of tourism experts – Co-Chair of the Government-Private Sector Working Group on Tourism Mr. Ho Vandy and President of Cambodia Association of Travel Agents Mrs. Chhay Sivlin – about potential increase of Mongolian visitors to Cambodia once direct flight between the two countries begins.

The Friendship days have being conducted annually since 1952 and the 57th event is hosted by the Embassy of Russia in Mongolia, the Mongolia Russia Friendship Society and the Russian Center for Science and Culture, Monstame reported.

Various events scheduled to be organized within the event, including Mongolian and Russian cooperation forum, 'Made in Russia' fair, 'Vernisaj' photo and art exhibition, a meeting of Asian graduators in RF and Mongolian and Euro-Asian economic cooperation-2017 business forum. Moreover, a festival of Russian language among students, an evening of literature works of A.S.Pushkin and a book exhibition dedicated to the 125th anniversary of poet M.I.Tsvetaeva will be held.

Tesla said it delivered 26,150 vehicles in the third quarter, including 14,065 Model S vehicles and 11,865 Model X cars, up 17.7 percent from the second quarter of this year.

The Palo Alto, California-based company delivered just 220 Model 3 sedans and produced 260 during the quarter. In July, it began production of the Model 3, which starts at $35,000 - half the starting price of the Model S.

Tesla had said in its second-quarter financial report that it expects “to achieve a rate of 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of 2017.” The automaker also said it expects at some point in 2018 to further ramp to a rate of “10,000 Model 3 vehicles per week,” and an annual production rate in excess of 500,000 vehicles.

“It is important to emphasize that there are no fundamental issues with the Model 3 production or supply chain,” Tesla said in a statement. “We understand what needs to be fixed and we are confident of addressing the manufacturing bottleneck issues in the near term.”

Tesla said it was on track to deliver around 100,000 S and X models this year.

But Tesla said on Monday that a handful of systems at its Fremont, California, car plant and its battery factory in Reno, Nevada, “have taken longer to activate than expected.”

The automaker said 4,820 Model S and X vehicles were in transit to customers at the end of the third quarter and would be counted with its fourth-quarter figures.

In after-market trading, Tesla shares fell more than 1 percent to $337.84, from the closing price on Nasdaq of $341.53.